PARIS — Hong Kong-based fleet operator AsiaSat will soon order a “modest”-size high-throughput satellite (HTS) that will leverage the company’s access to the Chinese market, Barrie Woolston, AsiaSat’s chief commercial officer, said Sept. 14.“We’ve looked long and hard at what we can use existing capacity for, and when we will make the leap into HTS,” Woolston said here at the World Satellite Business Week conference. “We are at that stage now where we are specifying a new satellite … that will hit the streets in 36 months time.”Woolston said AsiaSat is in discussions with manufacturers about the new satellite, called AsiaSat-10, which will be in orbit by 2020. China will be a primary focus for the satellite. “China as you know is an enormous market,” he said. “Our HTS strategy is around what we can do for the market in China.”Woolston said China’s market access conditions create “a whole set of complexities” despite AsiaSat’s preexisting access. Inflight connectivity is and continues to be a driver of demand in China, he said. AsiaSat wants AsiaSat-10 to be significantly more “flexible” in its ability to augment where capacity is directed based on changes in demand. “Long gone,” ...